WASHINGTON – The National Cooperative Business Association, which led the charge to get the .coop domain name for cooperatives, has yet to find a CU organization to become a founder and act as registrant for CUs and the new .coop domain, but it is having luck in other areas. The National Cooperative Bank became a .coop founder. The NCB is a source of funding for cooperatives nationwide. As a founder, NCB will be able to offer its members and affiliates the ability to pre-qualify their names with the .coop domain name. Other .coop founders include the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative and the UK's Co-operative Union. According to the NCBA, Nationwide Insurance and the Organization of Brazilian Cooperatives are also planning on becoming founders. The NCBA is still in discussions with CU groups in the U.S. to fill the founder slot for credit unions. About a month ago, there were rumblings that CUNA, CUNA Mutual and CU leagues, or some combination thereof, would fill the .coop founder slot for credit unions. That's not likely, said Pete Crear, executive vice president/chief operating officer for CUNA. "We will not be founders. We couldn't get to the $200,000 mark. That's a tough mark, particularly when you're a trade association," said Crear. He did say CUNA, the leagues and CUNA Mutual feel it is an important initiative, and they are planning to contribute some financial support to the effort.